Apparently, I have to watch my intake of foods which are high in uric acid / purine. So what are these foods?Â
This is a bit of an odd subject as 20 different people have 20 different opinions (including Doctors).Â
So I did my own checking a came across a good website called Purine Direkt from Germany. So the focus of foods covered is mainly what is commonplace in Germany... but it does give a really good idea as to what the purine content is.
Go to their website! It's really good!
Instead of re-printing everything from Purine Direkt, I have 2 tables and both will contain the Top-30 food items.
Table A is the ranking of Purine by Weight (milligrams per 100g of Food).
Table B is the ranking by Purine by typical Portion (milligrams per Portion in grams)
Normally, a Top-10 list would suffice but more than half of the foods on the list are not commonplace in most countries.
My Comments on the High list:
The ranking of high Purine foods does remind me of the list of high cholesterol foods... except for the appearance of bony fish!
Herring, Trout, Sardines, Anchovies!
Table A: High Purine foods by weight
Food Name Purine
(mg/100g)
Veal sweetbread 377
Pig milk 250
Sprats 210
Spleen from calf 165
Cattle lung 165
Pork kidney 163
Duck Liver 151
Goose liver 151
Sardine 145
Trout 144
scallops, clams 138
Oil sardines, drip 133
Trout filet 131
Anchovies (Filet) 126
Cow liver & heart 122
Calf liver 120
Pig liver 120
Calf lung 117
Calf kidney 117
Horse meat 116
Anchovies 109
Herring 99
Soused Herring 95
Turkey meat, skin on 91
Minute steak 89
Pork filet 89
Calf Leg 88
Pheasant 88
Pig Fillet 88
Calf heart 88
Table B: High Purine foods by Portion
Food Name Purine Portion
 (mg/portion) (g)
Veal sweetbread 471 125
Pig milk 313 125
Trout 213 150
scallops, clams 207 150
Spleen from calf 206 125
Cattle lung 206 125
Pork kidney 203 125
Duck Liver 189 125
Goose liver 189 125
Horse meat 171 150
Sprats 158 75
Cow liver & heart 153 125
Calf liver 150 125
Pig liver 150 125
Herring 148 150
Calf lung 146 125
Calf kidney 146 125
Wild boar 140 200
Turkey, skin on 137 150
Minute steak 134 150
Calf Leg 132 150
Pheasant 132 150
Pig Shoulder 128 150
Lamb Leg 128 250
Halibut 126 150
Lentils 126 150
Pork cutlet 123 150
Goose meat, skin on 120 150
Pollock / Saithe 119 150
Lamb 113 150
I though it would be interesting to look a the lowest Purine content as well.Â
Table C is the lowest ranking of Purine by Weight.
Table D is the lowest ranking by Purine by typical Portion.
My Comments on the Low list:
Hey, people were telling me don't eat the red stuff which includes vegetables and they named Red Cabbage & Spinach... both are on the Low list. Hmmm!
Table C: Low Purine foods by weight
Food Name Purine
(mg/100g)
Fish stock 3
Parsnip 13
Beans, red/kidney 16
Red cabbage, cooked 17
Savoy cabbage, cooked 17
Red Cabbage 17
Soy sauce 17
Beans, green 18
Beans, green, cooked 19
Cauliflower, cooked 19
Birch mushrooms 21
Morels 21
Shiitake Mushrooms 21
Artichoke Hearts 21
Artichokes, cooked 21
Maize, cooked 21
Broccoli, cooked 22
Beans, thick, cooked 23
Chard Beet 24
Brussels sprouts 25
Mushrooms, cooked 25
Mushrooms 28
Tofu 29
Spinach, cooked 30
Scampi 30
Stone mushrooms 34
Eel 34
Soybeans, cooked 34
Oyster mushrooms 38
Oysters 38
Table D: Low Purine foods by Portion
Food Name Purine Portion
 (mg/portion) (g)
Kaviar, german 3 5
Soy sauce 3 20
Fish stock 5 150
Scampi 15 50
Soybeans, cooked 20 60
Snails, cooked 24 50
Beans, red/kidney 24 150
Mushrooms, cooked 25 100
Eel 26 75
Red cabbage, cooked 26 150
Savoy cabbage, cooked 26 150
Red Cabbage 26 150
Parsnip 26 200
Beans, green 27 150
Cauliflower, cooked 28 150
Tofu 29 100
Beans, green, cooked 29 150
Artichoke Hearts 32 150
Artichokes, cooked 32 150
Maize, cooked 32 150
Broccoli, cooked 33 150
Beans, thick, cooked 35 150
Chard Beet 36 150
Tuna, natural 37 75
Oysters 38 100
Brussels sprouts 38 150
Birch mushrooms 42 200
Morels 42 200
Shiitake Mushrooms 42 200
Tuna in oil 45 60
I think it's pretty safe to say that the high purine offenders are offal and innards. It's similar to the list of high cholesterol offenders; with the exception of bony fish.
On the low purine foods, it's nearly all vegetables and mushrooms. These are all good for you.
So what's with the fish?
And so I have to add another pair of tables just for fish.
Table E is the Fish Purine ranking by weight.
Table F is the Fish Purine by Portion.
Table E: High purine Fish by weight
Food Name Purine
(mg/100g)
Sprats (Sprotters) 210
Sardine 145
Trout 144
scallops, clams 138
Oil sardines, drip 133
Trout filet 131
Anchovies (Filet) 126
Anchovies, Sardellen 109
Herring 99
Soused Herring 95
Halibut 84
Bismarck herring, drip 83
Pollock / Saithe 79
Salmon 75
Tuna in oil 75
Herring (drip) 72
Cod 71
Mackerel 71
Perch 67
Carp 63
Crab, salted 63
Tuna fillet 63
Prawns, shrimp 62
Caviar, german 60
Haddock 59
Bream 59
Pike 59
Hake 58
Plaice 57
Sole 55
Table B: High purine Fish by Portion
Food Name Purine Portion
 (mg/portion) (g)
Trout 213 150
scallops, clams 207 150
Sprats (Sprotters) 158 75
Herring 148 150
Halibut 126 150
Pollock / Saithe 119 150
Sardine 109 75
Herring (drip) 108 150
Cod 107 150
Perch 101 150
Trout filet 98 75
Carp 95 150
Prawns, shrimp 93 150
Haddock 89 150
Bream 89 150
Pike 89 150
Hake 88 150
Plaice 86 150
Redfish 81 150
Oil sardines, drip 80 60
Cod 80 150
Anchovies (Filet) 76 60
Lobster 74 150
Fish fillet 71 150
Blue Mussel 71 150
Fish sticks 69 150
Pike perch 69 150
Soused Herring 58 65
Salmon 56 75
Anchovies, Sardellen 55 50
Overall, looking at the purine by weight, I will say that everything from Halibut and below is low in purine. Also notice the scale of differences, for example, salmon is half that of sardines.
I am noticing some "cultural differences" in the fish Portion data. For the big fish portions like cod, yes 150g seems correct. But then salmon should be portioned at 150g as well (not 75g). In contrast, I think prawns and scallops should be portioned at perhaps 75g only (not 150g). It's hard to say what is correct here.
My Comments on the Fish list:
More on cultural differences, we might only eat 50g of anchovies as a portion but, for example in many equatorial regions, anchovies is the main ingredient in fish stock (which is not the case in Germany) which means the amount "consumed" ordinarily is considerably larger.